Multiple terror attacks didn’t stop Lt. Aviv from becoming an officer

Lieutenant Aviv didn’t let two terror attacks stop him. When he was a baby his mother used her own body to shield him from a stabbing attack. Years later, his family’s car was hit by a Molotov cocktail and his sister was badly burned.

Lt. Aviv was only a month old when armed terrorists attack his mother with a knife at the entrance to their home in Gush Katif. His mother was stabbed more than 20 times while she used her own body to protect him and his young sister.

“My mother, my sister, and I were saved because people heard shouting, rushed to help, and overpowered the terrorists. It was not an easy time for my family. It was especially hard for my mother to be away from us [during rehabilitation], her little children.”

Lt. Aviv later enlisted to the IDF to serve in the Golani Brigade. After a challenging year serving in the Golani Brigade, he chose to go to Squad Commanders Course. Right before he finished the course, terror struck his family for the second time.

It was October 2015, and his father and mother were traveling with three of his younger siblings to Beit El,north of Ramallah,when Molotov cocktails were thrown at their car. The first one hit the car window, and the second exploded on his 3-year-old’s sister’s seat. His sister, Tal, was badly burned. “It’s not easy to see your sister wrapped in bandages from head to toe – [during her recovery] she didn’t respond or laugh. To this day she has a pressure suit designed to reduce the scars.”

With the support from his family, Lt. Aviv successfully completed the squad commanders course and became a sergeant. But he wasn’t done yet. Lt. Aviv set yet another goal for himself: “At first, after what my family went through, I didn’t think that I could go to officers course. But after a few months in my position, when the situation calmed down, I decided that I would go. That was my dream – and I decided not to give up on it.”

“That’s what I learned at home, that’s what I grew up with, and these are the values that I will instill in my soldiers – values of giving back to the State and loving of the State.”

Today, Lt. Aviv is a platoon commander in the 51st Battalion. In three months, Lt. Aviv will be starting a new position as the 51st Battalion’s Deputy Company Commander. “I feel a tremendous amount of satisfaction from working with combat soldiers and seeing their progress. I’m happy to give back to the people of Israel and the IDF.”